What's On The Minds Of Today's Leading CEOs?

Digital disruption, engagement and trust are all core trends that are seated front and center in the minds of today’s top executives. FORTUNE Editor Alan Murray sat down with three prominent business leaders at the EY Strategic Growth Forum® 2015 to gain insight into how they’re tackling the challenges that accompany these trends.

Digital disruption

Jennifer Morgan, President of SAP North America, Inc., considers the pace of digital disruption to be the most pressing challenge. According to Morgan, things “have never moved as fast and they’ll never move this slow again. No one is immune.”

High-end restaurant delivery service Bon Appétit Management Company is a perfect example. “Technology is changing everything,” said CEO Fedele Bauccio. From home delivery to mobile payments to the development of next-generation foods, technology touches it all.

And Paul Grangaard, President and CEO of US shoe-maker Allen Edmonds Corporation, is especially challenged by the fault lines in retailing. “We are in an era of disintermediation,” Grangaard said. In the future, “people will shop, but products will be sent directly to the home.” Physical shops will become somewhere you go for an experience, not to make purchases.

The networked economy is blurring the lines between industries and companies in ways that we have yet to understand, suggested Morgan. “In the next five years, some 30 billion things will be connected. Out of those connections, whole new businesses will emerge.”

Engagement

These changes are also challenging workplace dynamics. The “top down, military-style power is going,” said Grangaard. Organizations that work well don’t abide by traditional control-and-command principles — they put culture and engagement at the heart of their management philosophy.

“Millennials want purpose in their work,” Bauccio said. You have to stand by your values, express your dreams and constantly communicate both to your people. “If [your purpose is] about beating last year’s results, you won’t engage,” Grangaard said. “The bottom line is a derivative of what you are working for, why you are there in the first place.”

Trust

Morgan said that a culture of fear doesn’t work either. “Vulnerability is about not being afraid to ask for help, to admit mistakes and to work in a climate of trust,” she said. “Listen while you lead, and learn from reverse mentorship.”

And the stakes are high. “If I lose the hearts and minds of the people who work for me, I’m done,” said Grangaard.

It’s clear that even the brightest minds in business today don’t have all the answers, but they’re asking the right questions. Are you?

Tell me: As a business leader, what challenges are weighing on your mind?